This is a collection of news about border issues, particularly those seen from Arizona and regarding the right to keep and bear arms. Sources often include Mexican media. It's often interesting to see how different the view is from the south.
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McALLEN — The federal government's prosecution of the war on drugs received a rebuke and a few pointers Thursday from a group of local border security stakeholders.

A report from the Texas Border Coalition — which comprises mayors, judges and economic development drivers living along the Texas border — takes on the allocation of federal resources.

The Obama administration announced a shift in strategy Dec. 20 that will reduce the boots on the ground in order to focus resources up above.

Seventy-five percent of the National Guardsmen deployed to the U.S.- Mexico border in the summer of 2010 — months after the Zetas and the Gulf Cartel split — will head home.

Only 300 of the 1,200 troops stationed along the Southwestern border will remain.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon is preparing to spend nearly $60 million in air support, which includes the use of drones and helicopters, for U.S. Border Patrol agents.

The investment, however, focuses not on the legal border crossings but the stretches of land between them, and it overlooks funding needed at those 52 ports of entry, which is where most of the legitimate travel and trade takes place, Texas Border Coalition representatives said Thursday.

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, bemoaned an imbalance in budgetary increases between the Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection personnel at ports of entry, respectively.

"We hire a lot of men and women in green," he said, "but we need to hire more men and women in blue."

MORE GREEN FOR THE GREEN

The federal government has poured about $90 billion into securing the U.S.-Mexico border over the past decade, with a significant amount used in the deployment of the National Guardsmen, the building of a border fence and an increase in manpower for various agencies, including the Border Patrol, which has seen a sixfold increase since 1993.

Nineteen years ago, there were just 4,000 agents stationed along the United States' borders. Today, there are about 24,285, according to a report released Thursday by the Texas Border Coalition titled "Without Strategy: America's Border Security Blunders Facilitate and Empower Mexico's Drug Cartels."

The coalition issued the report "to let Congress know what is truly going on at the U.S.-Mexico border," Eagle Pass Mayor and coalition Chairman Ramsey Cantu said during a teleconference.

Since 1993, the Border Patrol's budget has seen a ninefold increase, from $400 million to $3.6 billion, officials said.

During that same time frame, funding for CBP inspectors increased from $1.6 billion to $2.9 billion — an 80 percent increase.

The coalition is asking the federal government to allocate more money for manpower, infrastructure and technology at the ports of entry, where the bulk of the work is coming through, Cuellar said.

They agree with a recommendation from the Government Accountability Office that indicates CBP needs an additional 6,000 inspectors and $6 million in funding for infrastructure and technology within the next four years, but there is no indication from the Department of Homeland Security that will happen.

THREAT

The legal ports of entry "have become America's weakest border security link," the report goes on to say. An illegal immigrant has a better chance of successfully entering the country through a legitimate port of entry than through the land in between.

Criminals face a 90 percent likelihood of apprehension when crossing between the gaps, but they are less challenged at border crossings, where the apprehension rate is 28 percent.

Mexican drug cartels already are operating in 250 cities throughout the U.S. and every illegal entry is a concern, Cuellar said. The federal government, however, does not seem to have a clear strategic direction and operates on an ad hoc basis.

"Without a strategy, America will continue to lose the border security war to the better financed, equipped, more mobile and agile drug cartels," the report reads. "The Texas Border Coalition suggests that the only reasonable path forward is to refocus our border security priorities where our nation is most vulnerable: at the legal border crossings."

ECONOMIC IMPACT

The lack of funding at the ports of entry is leading to increased wait times and deterring Mexican investments, McAllen Mayor Richard Cortez said.

"We can't fix budgetary issues simply by cutting expenses. We need to increase trade with Canada and Mexico," he said. "The border is a big contributor to the American economy.

"Jobs all over the U.S. are affected by how bad or how well we do."

Many people don't realize that 6 million U.S. jobs depend on business with Mexico, Cuellar said. One in every 24 jobs depend on U.S. trade for their employment.

"We don't want to have a parking lot on the middle of the bridge," he said. "We'd rather have those people at our stores, the hotels and the malls instead."

Naxiely Lopez covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at naxil@themonitor.com and (956) 683-4434.